HAVE YOU SEEN THE RISEN LORD?

To change is never easy and it gets harder to change the older we get.

I would like to tell you the true story of Fr. Joe (not his real name). I lived with him many years ago in one of our monasteries. It was a large monastery, and with fewer vocations, it was also half empty. There was no way that we could continue to keep this monastery open unless we made some difficult decisions. It would involve changes in the way we lived, the way we ministered. And as I said, changes can be very difficult to accept.

Fr. Joe was one of the older men in the community. As plans were developed which would require these radical changes, he was a continual roadblock. He was bitter about the whole matter and was not afraid to let everyone else know exactly what he thought. He said that if the plan was accepted, he would probably leave the community.

In spite of his opposition, and the opposition of a few others living in the community, the plan was adopted. And because of the changes that were made, that monastery is still open today.

We had a final meeting to discuss what was going to happen. Each member of the community took his turn in expressing what he thought. Fr. Joe was sitting next to me at this meeting. When it came his turn to speak, he surprised everyone in the room. He said that he had thought and prayed over what was being done and how he would deal with it. He told us how much he cared for us and for the work being done at this monastery. Then, he said that rather than oppose it, he would give his wholehearted support and try to make the decision work. Gone was the bitterness, gone was the opposition. There was a new attitude in him, a new life.

With that, he bent over in the chair. I thought that he was tying a loose shoe lace. But when he did not sit back up, I and another person sitting on the other side of him, picked him up in the chair. To the surprise of all, he was dead. His last words were of love and support to the Passionist community and to the ministry.

When I reflected on what had happen, I realized that on that day I had seen the Risen Lord in Fr. Joe.

ur Gospel this week tells us the wonderful story of the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus. There are so many great lessons which we could take from this story but what seems to me most important was that they had seen the Risen Lord. Even though they did not at first recognize him, they came to see him in the breaking of the bread. It was because of this encounter that they raced back to share the news with the other disciples, their hearts on fire with excitement.